Injury rules out Hope, Red Force struggling

ALL THE BEST: New president of the Queen’s Park Cricket Club, Ken Gordon, right, shakes hands with Trinidad and Tobago Red Force captain Denesh Ramdin before the start of the Regional Four-Day Championship match against the Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the Queen’s Park Oval this morning. At left is Red Force opening batsman Amir Jangoo, while at centre is team manager Roland Sampath. Photo: courtesy the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board

So far 2018 has not been kind to the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force after opening batsman Kyle Hope was sidelined with an ankle injury on the eve of the eighth-round Regional Four-Day Tournament clash against the Leeward Islands Hurricanes.

The match bowled off in hot sun at Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain with the home team forced to use both opener/wicketkeeper Amir Jangoo and wicketkeeper/batsman Steven Katwaroo in the line-up. Katwaroo is playing for the first time this season.

The 24-year-old Katwaroo was the first-choice wicke-keeper for the Red Force in the previous season before being dropped in favour ofJangoo for the final two matches of the 2016/17 campaign.

Having won the toss and elecing to bat first this morning, the Red were reduced to 93 for three after 31 overs with Jangoo, Jeremy Solozano and Yannic Cariah all back in the Brian Lara Pavilion before lunch.

Solozano led the scoring for the hosts in the first session with 37 off 80 balls before he was caught off seamer Sheno Berridge . Cariah fell to the same bowler for 14, leaving skipper Denesh Ramdin and rookie Ewart Nicholson with a huge task to rescue the innings.

So far the pair have added 37 for the fourth wicket with Ramdin unbeaten on 15 off 32 balls and Nicholson on 16 off 23 at the break.